LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Sophomore Max Dean (sixth at 184 pounds) and junior Chas Tucker (seventh at 133) both finished on the podium as Cornell placed 21st as a team at the 2018 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

Dean dropped three matches on Saturday, each coming against top 20 competition. Top-ranked Myles Martin earned a win in the quarters, with Zack Zavatsky of Virginia Tech and Lou DePrez of Binghamton also holding him off to send him to sixth place. 

Tucker took seventh at 133 pounds after opening the day with a 5-3 blood round win over Dylan Duncan of Illinois. He dropped a 7-0 contest to Minnesota's Ethan Lizak in the consolation semifinals before collecting a medical forfeit in the seventh place match.

Brandon Womack lost in the blood round at 174 pounds, falling to Purdue's Dylan Lydy 7-5 to just miss the podium. 

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Sophomore Max Dean will get his shot against the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds on Saturday by winning four matches to advance to the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational semifinals. He led three wrestlers who remain in contention for a spot on the podium entering the tournament's final day. The Big Red, without five starters, ranks 18th in the team race with 33.5 points.

Dean won three of his four matches with bonus points attached, including a dominant 10-0 win over No. 8 Chip Ness of North Carolina in the quarters. He earlier earned a tech fall and a fall and came a point short of a major in the other. He'll put his perfect 6-0 record this season on the line tomorrow when he faces Ohio State's top-ranked wrestler, Myles Martin. Dean's brother, two-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American Gabe, defeated Myles twice during his senior campaign.

Dean earned the only first period takedown against Ness, ending with a 1:18 ride time advantage and a 2-0 lead. Ness went back down to start the second and Dean was able to ride him tough, nearly locking up a cradle but ending the period on top while getting four swipes to extend the lead to 6-0 entering the third. With riding time locked up, Dean earned an escape point 37 seconds into the final period to get into bonus point territory. He earned another takedown in the final minute to secure his spot in the semifinals with the major decision victory and nearly four minutes in riding time.

Chas Tucker (133), Brandon Womack (174) and Ben Honis (197) were all stopped in the quarters against highly-ranked opponents and each of the three will attempt to reach the podium with wins on Saturday morning. Tucker lost a tight 4-3 contest to No. 5 Luke Pletcher of Ohio State, Womack got taken out in a wild 16-9 contest by Northern Iowa's ninth-ranked Taylor Lujan and Honis fell to No. 3 Kollin Moore of Ohio State 7-2 after leading into the final minute. Honis medically forfeited out of the tournament following his loss to Moore.

Tucker's close loss to Pletcher was decided by a late escape by the Buckeye. Trailing 3-1, Tucker had an explosive takedown and a ferocious mat return to tie the match in the final 40 seconds, but Pletcher escaped to take the lead back and narrowly avoided a last-second takedown to advance into the semis. He earlier in the day earned a major decision over Northern Iowa's Jack Skudlarczyk and squeaked out a 5-3 triumph over No. 18 Ben Thornton of Purdue.

Womack narrowly avoided a second period pin in the first round to top Oklahoma's Anthony Mantanona in the first round, then nearly teched Fresno State's Ricky Padillo 14-0 to reach the quarters. He traded takedowns and escapes in a funky first period before Lujan hit a six-point move that included a cradle that Womack was able to break, but not before he trailed 9-3. An escape and a takedown for Lujan put the UNI wrestler up 12-4 entering the final two minutes, but Womack couldn't land a big move to drop into the backdraw.

Honis brought the action to Moore in the quarters, as the two wrestled through a scoreless first period. Moore got a quick escape in the second to take the 1-0 lead, Honis got in deep on a single leg in the final 15 seconds of the second, but wasn't able to finish and went into the third trailing 1-0. Like Moore in the second, Honis escaped for his point in the first 10 seconds to even the score. He got in on a single again midway through the third, but Moore was again able to defend against the takedown. Moore finally used a blast double to get on the board with 40 seconds left and earned four late swipes to claim the win 7-2.  

In all, nine of Cornell's 10 wrestlers won at least one match.

Both Jake Brindley and Milik Dawkins lost first round matches before winning back-to-back matches in the consolation draw, while Dominic LaJoie and Hunter Richard won one in the back draw. Jeramy Sweany opened his season with a win at heavyweight before falling in consecutive matches.Michael Venosa also saw action at 141 pounds.

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125 - Dominic LaJoie (1-2)
Round of 32: Travis Piotroski (Illinois) won by decision over Dominic LaJoie (C), 4-0
Consolation Round of 16: Dominic LaJoie (C) won by decision over Sean Cannon (Northern Colorado), 9-5
Consolation Round of 8: Drew Hildenbrandt (Central Michigan) won by major decision over Dominic LaJoie (C), 14-5

133 - Chas Tucker (4-2, 7th place)
Round of 32: (7) #15 Chas Tucker (C) won by major decision over Jack Skudlarczyk (Northern Iowa), 11-2
Round of 16: (7) #15 Chas Tucker (C) won by decision over (10) #18 Ben Thornton (Purdue), 5-3
Quarterfinals: (2) #5 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) won by decision over (7) #15 Chas Tucker (C), 4-3
Consolation Round of 8: (7) #15 Chas Tucker (C) won by decision over (9) #17 Dylan Duncan (Illinois), 5-3
Consolation Round of 4: (3) #7 Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) won by decision over (7) #15 Chas Tucker (C), 7-0
Seventh Place Match: (7) #15 Chas Tucker (C) won by medical forfeit over (11) #19 Cam Sykora (North Daktoa State)

141 - Michael Venosa (0-2)
Round of 32: (5) Nicholas Gil (Navy) won by decision over Michael Venosa (C), 10-3
Consolation Round of 16: LJ Bentley (Pittsburgh) won by decision over Michael Venosa (C), 4-1

149 - Hunter Richard (1-2)
Round of 32: Collin Purinton (Nebraska) won by decision over Hunter Richard (C), 11-6
Consolation Round of 32: Hunter Richard (C) won by decision over Shayne Oster (Northwestern), 8-2
Consolation Round of 16: Matthew Ontiveros (Utah Valley) won by fall over Hunter Richard (C), 1:20

157 - Jake Brindley (2-2)
Round of 32: (7) #19 Hunter Willits (Oregon State) won by decision over Jake Brindley (C), 8-4
Consolation Round of 32: Jake Brindley (C) won by decision over Rian Burris (The Citadel), 9-4
Consolation Round of 16: Jake Brindley (C) won by decision over Wyatt Gerl (Cal State Bakersfield), 4-0
Consolation Round of 8: (4) #7 Keshawn Hayes (Ohio State) won by decision over Jake Brindley (C), 7-1

165 - Milik Dawkins (2-2)
Round of 32: Joshua Kim (Harvard) won by decision over Milik Dawkins (C), 4-3
Consolation Round of 32: Milik Dawkins (C) won by major decision over Michael Manley (Drexel), 14-0
Consolation Round of 16: Milik Dawkins (C) won by decision over Aidan Monteverdi (Binghamton), 3-2
Consolation Round of 8: (12) Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) won by major decision over Milik Dawkins (C), 12-0 

174 - Brandon Womack (2-2)
Round of 32: (6) #16 Brandon Womack (C) won by decision over Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma), 11-10
Round of 16: (6) #16 Brandon Womack (C) won by major decision over Ricky Padilla (Fresno State), 14-0
Quarterfinals: (3) #9 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa) won by decision over (6) #16 Brandon Womack (C), 16-9
Consolation Round of 8: (5) #13 Dylan Lydy (Purdue) won by decision over (6) #16 Brandon Womack (C), 7-5 

184 - Max Dean (4-2, 6th place)
Pigtail: (5) #9 Max Dean (C) won by technical fall over Charlie Andrews (Campbell), 16-1
Round of 32: (5) #9 Max Dean (C) won by fall over Jacob Cooper (California Baptist), 2:07
Round of 16: (5) #9 Max Dean (C) won by decision over Will Sumner (Utah Valley), 12-5
Quarterfinals: (5) #9 Max Dean (C) won by major decision over (4) #8 Chip Ness (North Carolina), 10-0
Semifinals: (1) #1 Myles Martin (Ohio State) won by major decision over  (5) #9 Max Dean (C), 17-7
Consolation Semifinals: (3) #5 Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) won by decision over (5) #9 Max Dean (C), 13-8
Fifth Place Match (9) #18 Lou DePrez (Binghamton) won by decision over (5) #9 Max Dean (C), 5-3 (sv1) 

197 - Ben Honis (2-1)
Round of 32: (9) #20 Ben Honis (C) won by technical fall over Chasen Blair (North Carolina), 19-4
Round of 16: (9) #20 Ben Honis (C) won by decision over (8) #17 Jake Woodley (Oklahoma), 4-2
Quarterfinals: (1) #3 Kollin Moore (Ohio State) won by decision over (9) #20 Ben Honis (C), 7-2 
Consolation Round of 8: (2) #8 Nathan Traxler (Stanford) won by medical forfeit over (9) #20 Ben Honis (C)

285 - Jeramy Sweany (1-2)
Pigtail: (3) #12 Jeramy Sweany (C) won by decision over Robert Winters (Northern Colorado), 9-5
Round of 32: Brian Andrews (Wyoming) won by decision over (3) #12 Jeramy Sweany (C), 3-2 
Consolation Round of 16: Demetrius Thomas (Pittsburgh) won by fall over (3) #12 Jeramy Sweany (C), 1:52